Between open adventure in foreign lands and confined living in Portugal

Abstract

One of the main tendencies of Portuguese Children's Literature seems to be the fictionalization of a persistent oscillation between the propensity for travelling and for knowing other cultures and a kind of confinement to the native space. In the first four decades of the 20th century, which coincided with a period of decisive political changes in Portugal, some relevant authors wrote stories about travel and adventure. Others were more interested in patriotic or nationalistic themes, as a response to the ideals of Salazar's dictatorial government. On this specific subject, the case of Virgínia de Castro e Almeida (1874-1945), a prolific Portuguese writer, is paradigmatical. In fact, besides the publication of Céu Aberto (1907), Em Pleno Azul (1907), História de Dona Redonda e da sua Gente (1942) and Aventuras de Dona Redonda (1943), four important and innovative novels dedicated to juvenile readers, which direct or indirectly reflect her sympathy for other cultures and/or foreign lands, she was also the author of some titles published in the historical series “Grandes Portugueses”, namely Dom Fuas Roupinho, Fernáo Lopes, Dom Gualdim e Gil Vicente, and «Pátria», for example História da Rainha Santa e do Rei Lavrador and História de uma grande batalha de Aljubarrota e da Padeira que matou sete espanhóis.
This paper will reflect upon the mentioned theme(s) by cross-reading these texts of Virgínia de Castro e Almeida, and some selected others published by different authors in the same period.